JanCam
by SnakEve
Summary: What happens when a murder is displayed on the internet for all to see?
1. Default Chapter

The boy was surfing to his favorite site, JanCam. His friend had told him to check it out Jan had brought home a friend and it was so rare to see this stuff live as it was happening. He click on the enter site button and typed in his password. The cam loaded and he saw the now familiar interior of Jan's bedroom. She did indeed have someone over today. They looked about halfway undressed and getting farther. The boy clicked his record program. He had designed it himself for just such occasions. It would record the images of the cam on the screen for later playback. It beat clicking every picture to save in a file. The JanCam was fairly slow with one picture every fifteen seconds. With the recording program he could speed it up a little. It was jerky but you didn't have to wait for each picture to load later. Now, however he had patience because this was live, each new picture a surprise as to what was happening next.  
The next picture certainly was a surprise. The guy, whose shirt was off and pants down looked like he was holding a knife. Jan was sitting on the bed in front of his standing figure.   
The next picture loaded. He had Jan's head by the hair. The knife was blocked by his body, but it looked to be at her throat.  
The next picture loaded. There was blood everywhere. Jan was caught in the act of falling off the side of the bed.  
The next picture loaded. The guy was moving towards the camera. Jan was in a heap by the bed.  
The next picture loaded it was a shot of the guys face, blurry, and chest, which had a tattoo, also blurry.  
The next picture loaded. The camera was black.  
The boy called the police.  
  
"The hard part is going to be tracking her down, sir." The computer tech was playing the recording the boy had made for Detectives Goren and Eames. Jan has killed repeatedly on the screen in the space of about five seconds.  
"What about the server she rents space from? Surely they have information of who owns that site?" Eames frowned at the screen.  
"They're pretty tight on privacy especially from cops. The porn sites have their rights you know. But it's possible too this could all trace back to a fake name."  
"Get a picture of her face, the boy who made this can probably help you out. And work on enhancing his face and that tattoo." Goren said roughly. He walked out of the room grumpily. No true victim yet they still were trying to pawn this off on major case.  
"Goren," Deakins was heading towards him. "Homicide has a victim in an apartment uptown, the roommate found her. Throat slashed, probably your girl."  
"Right on it. Eames!" He bellowed.  
  
They reached the apartment in record time yet there still was a small cluster of cameras outside the building. Goren and Eames were escorted up to a small two bedroom apartment. The roommate was in the living room wrapped in a blanket and shakily answering questions from a uniformed cop. The place was crawling with CSU. They were led to the back bedroom. The blood splatter was amazing. Jan still lay where she had fallen on screen. There were man sized bloody shoe prints but no hand prints. And no sign of the knife.  
The homicide detective called them over. "Her name is Alice Whitten. She's a student at NYU. There doesn't seem too much else to say until the lab gets back with some results. We might find some DNA, but we might not. No sign of the murder weapon and no obvious prints. We'll be dusting everywhere, but I'm not hopeful I think this guy would have wiped after himself."  
"Well we have one thing," Goren muttered.  
"What's that?"  
"Millions of witnesses."  
"Millions of suspects." Eames added.  
  
The roommate's name was Angela. Goren insisted on taking her downstairs to the Starbucks for questioning. He wanted her in a place where she could distance herself from the crime in order to talk to him about it. He bought her a decaf out of his own pocket. She hadn't brought her purse and forgot to thank him. He didn't mind.  
"You're a student too?"  
"Yes, we both were." Her lips trembled a bit but she took a deep breath.  
"We're interested in this website." Eames began. "This doesn't seem like something that two students would involve themselves with."  
"It's for survival. Money only stretches so far in New York and the cam is the easiest way to get money."  
"How does that work?" Goren had his head propped on his fist. He sat directly opposite her, leaning over the table almost invading her personal space. Eames was to the side her hands folded in her lap letting Bobby work his magic.  
"You set up the site. I did most of it. Saves money if you don't hire out. Then you set it to where only those with a password can access the site. A customer pays for the password for six months or a year. Like a subscription. Alice liked the idea when she had read about it. She was the one who wanted to do it in the first place. I mean all you have to do is forget the camera is there at all. She said it wasn't too hard. And it helped on the rent."  
"Do you have a list of your... you called them customers, right?"  
"Subscribers would be better but yes I have a list of those in my computer. That is, if it's still there. I haven't even checked my room. I just came home and found her there..." She trailed off and teared up a bit. Goren sat back a little to give her room. "I have another list too. We get a lot of hate mail. A lot of people saying we deserve to die for doing this. Alice didn't want to keep them but I did."  
"That's smart of you." Goren grinned and ran a hand through his hair. "What about boyfriends? I know if my...girlfriend was letting thousands watch I would be pretty upset. Pretty jealous too."  
"Alice didn't have many boyfriends as in a steady relationship. And she told me she always let them know first. At least that's what she told me. I never heard anything bad from them. They really were just interested in a little fun. Alice never asked for much."  
"Not like you?"  
"No not like me. I kind of like to know who I'm getting into bed with." She smiled a little at him and then it faded and she started to cry again.  
"Well if you can think of anyone, let us know. And here," he handed her his card. "Get us those lists and we'll see if we can get a picture of the guy to you."  
"What guy?"  
"Didn't someone tell you?" Eames asked. "One of your customers recorded the whole murder from his monitor. He called the police. We've been working on the video for the past four hours."  
  
Goren was reviewing his notes at headquarters when Eames slapped some 8x10's of the killer's face and tattoo in front of him.  
"That's as good as it's going to get." She said and settled in her desk opposite him.  
He slid the pictures closer and grimaced. "Caucasian with dark hair. And it that a nose ring?"  
"Yeah. The tattoo enhancement is a little better."  
He pulled that out and looked. It was medallion shaped, possibly a Celtic knot over his heart. "Shit. Everybody and their mother has one of those. It's not even clear enough to tell if it's custom."  
"Still we'd want to check the tattoo parlors, and the student body. I'm thinking this is revenge. I think Alice may not have told this one they were being watched."  
"Possible. Couldn't be your average whacko off the street, he went right for the camera like he knew it was recording. And he either got off on it being broadcast or he was making a statement about the whole thing to murder her before turning it off. What did the lab come up with on her computer?"  
"The files were erased completely, but the lab's trying to recover some of it. I don't think he realized that Angela was the brains behind the camera. Her computer is fine and she says the subscriber's information was sent to that one. In order to make room on Alice's for the pictures."  
Goren nodded and started making some more notes. Eames watched until he began to draw loops in the margin. A sign he was thinking but not coming up with anything new just yet.  
"What do you think about Angela? Think she's in any way involved in this."  
"Not really a time to rule anybody out, but I don't think she is." He paused. "She's kind of cute, don't you think?"  
"A little young for you." Bobby looked at Eames as if didn't quite catch her meaning.  
  
The tattoo parlors turned up little to nothing. They all had medallion shaped tattoos, but couldn't identify the one in the picture or its owner.  
"We got a hundred guys a week who look just like that. And they all got tattoos of something or want something like that on their chest. Maybe if you had more to go on."  
One of them however did go so far as to speculate about the artwork. "It looks kind of like the one this one kid wanted me to do on his chest. It ain't that guy though. This kid was blond and cleancut. And he had drawn this thing himself, had a name and a sword entwined in it."  
"What was the name?"  
"Don't remember. Could've been Mom for all I know. It was a girl's name though. Had to be. Don't really like to work on men who want men's names tattooed on them."  
This parlor was the closest to NYU. Bobby mentioned that and frowned.  
"Think we should check their art department?" Eames asked.  
"Read my mind. But let's not do that just yet. I think we might find something more useful with Angela."  
  
Angela had given her temporary address as a friend's dorm room. She hadn't felt safe in her apartment. When Eames and Goren showed up she already had a condensed alphabetical list of names and card numbers to give them.  
"That was quick." Goren said tucking the thick list into his notebook.  
"I worked on it all last night and this morning. I wasn't sleeping anyway. And I heard that if a killer isn't found within something like forty-eight hours, you don't find him at all." She pulled out another sheet from her printer. "This is a list of the guys I know Alice slept with in front of the camera. I think there could have been more, but she didn't let me know about everyone."  
"Thank you. Here's the enhanced picture of the suspect. Does he look familiar?" Goren cocked his head to the side and watched her reaction carefully. She bit her lower lip and looked hard at the picture.  
"No I can't say I know him."  
"Here's a picture of his tattoo. Did you see Alice with someone who had a tattoo like that?" Again he watched her reaction carefully. She traced the outline with her finger, but still shook her head.  
"There were some with tattoos, but nothing that I can specifically remember. If he hadn't erased all the images stored on her computer I could have provided some more pictures of those that she had been with but.... Did your technicians find anything on her hard drive?"  
"They're still looking but it's doubtful they'll find more than a shred of an image or two." Eames took the pictures back from Angela. Goren was still looking at Angela thoughtfully.  
"What about you? Are you... involved with anybody?" Eames made as if to elbow him hard in the ribs. He glanced at her quickly, enough to stop her and turned back to Angela. "I mean is there anybody you've been seeing who might not have agreed with Alice's role, or even your role in this thing?"  
"There was this one guy who I started seeing, but he turned out to be a jerk. But no, he didn't care about that. He thought it was pretty cool. As long as I never put on a show." She didn't smile at that, which Goren thought was a bit strange.  
"Why didn't it work out? If you don't mind me asking?"  
"He was too possessive. He's an art student here. I think he thought that entitled him to be self-centered. I couldn't eat lunch without him knowing exactly who was there and what I ate. It didn't take me long to drop him."  
Goren nodded and turned to go. Eames followed him out to the street.  
"I thought you were going to put the moves on her." She expected him to smile at the joke, but he didn't. Instead he looked back up at the dorm windows.  
"Let's check on those art students." 


	2. Chapter 2

Small disclaimer. The books mentioned are entirely made up as well as the author's names. So don't go looking for them, because if you find them it's a major coincidence. Same for the students and faculty of NYU.  
  
Goren and Eames were directed to the head of the art department, Dr. Lowry. She knew almost all of the art majors by face if not by name. She was teaching a Drawing from Life class. They walked in on a bunch of students sketching a nude woman. Eames shot a hard look at Goren who took his time "glancing" at the model. Her head was turned away from the door, so she did not see the detectives. "Dr. Lowry?" The professor had seen them come in and was already heading toward them. "Yes?" "Detective Eames, this is my partner Detective Goren." It was a switch for her to do the introductions. She turned in time to see Goren wrench his head around to meet Dr. Lowry's gaze. She smirked at the effort it seemed to take. "Perhaps we could talk outside." "I thought you'd never ask." Dr. Lowry frowned and gestured for them to go out the door first. "Sorry. I was captivated by beauty of the human form." Goren said smiling softly. He wanted Dr. Lowry to think of him as a harmless oaf. "Indeed." She intoned sternly. "Detective, I have to weed out students from this class every year. I don't know who let you down here in the first place we try to respect the privacy of our classes." "You'll have to forgive my partner. He doesn't get to leave his cage very often." Eames said picking up on Goren's effort to lighten the mood. Dr. Lowry responded more favorably to Eames joke. Goren crossed his arms in front of him. It was a signal that Eames should take the lead at least for the first part. He'd already made too much of an ass of himself to be of much use. Eames did not let him down. "We were wondering if you could help us." "Are you investigating Alice Whitten's murder?" "Yes, that's right." "I'm not sure what I can do for you. She was never one of my students." "Are you aware of the circumstances of her death?" "Oh yes. Dreadful thing. Is it true that millions may have seen it on the web?" "Thousands, but probably millions by now. It was recorded and the pictures are everywhere." Eames pulled out a copy of the enhanced photo. "I don't know if you've seen it, but this has been enhanced. We're wondering if you can identify the man in the photo." Dr. Lowry looked at it carefully. "Are you really thinking this could be a student here?" Goren cut in. "We're not ruling it out. He has a tattoo that looks like a custom job. Perhaps you might recognize the work." He slipped the second picture into her hand. "That's very blurry." She studied it. "Actually it does remind me of a student's work, But he no longer goes here." "He didn't graduate." Goren did not make it a question. "No, he was expelled. He was stalking another student from what I gather. His name was Garrick Miles. He didn't look like this man, though. She slid the other picture out and looked again. "No. Garrick was skinny and blond. He was one of my best students, too." Goren tilted he head to the side. "You don't happen to keep in touch do you?" "No. He might as well have fallen off the planet."  
  
Garrick Miles was hovering in the NYU student library stacks. He was indeed skinny and blond. He was also intently watching Angela sitting at a table pouring over a pile of books in front of her. He was pretending to look through a book whenever he sensed another student in his peripheral vision, but most of the time he kept his eyes on her. He watched as two people, a very big man, and a smaller blond woman walked up to her. He was instantly jealous, but he knew enough to recognize cops when he saw them.  
  
"Angela." Goren said to bring her out of her studying haze. "We asked your friend where you might be." "And here I be." She said smiling a sad smile. She gestured for them to take a seat across from her. Goren and Eames exchanged glances. They were not often asked to have a seat they usually took them of their own accord.  
  
Goren lift the front cover of the book she was reading just enough to read the title. "A Study of Serial Killers: From Jack the Ripper to Jeffrey Dahmer." He read aloud. "This is a good one though if you want a really insightful work you'd read E. Huntley's portrait of Bundy." He paused. She just continued to look at them. "Is this for a class?" Goren cocked his head and leaned in a bit. He raised an eyebrow. "Or do you think this is a serial killing?" "I don't know what to think. This is the best I could find at the moment. I really just wanted to find out if there was anything that might indicate he'd come back." She shut the book and took up another one, handing it to Goren to look at the title. It was a basic criminology textbook. "I have a hard time with this one. It's too dense with theories on crimes. All of them, not just murders." "Funny you should be looking at all this stuff. Don't you have exams coming up?" Goren did not look at her. He had taken the book and was leafing through it. "I get to do those later. You know that college rule where you get a passing grade if your roommate dies? It's partially true. I can take an incomplete and do the exams next semester." "How were your grades going this semester anyway?" Eames had picked up on Goren's thread. Angela looked at her and then glanced over at Goren apprehensively. "Not the best in the world. I have an excuse for that. That guy I told you I had dumped? He didn't take it so well. He started to stalk me and it caused quite a problem." Goren looked up quickly. "Garrick Miles?" "How did you know?" "Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" Goren actually looked a bit angry. "I didn't think it was important. After he got expelled he left me alone and this was back in the beginning of the semester. I haven't heard from him since February." She was frightened by the way Goren had sat up and looked hard at her. "Do you think he's involved with this? Because he doesn't look a thing like the guy in the picture." Goren immediately settled back in his chair and appeared to think about it. "No, I guess not. We'll touch base with him, but he's probably not involved." He abruptly stood up. "You really don't have anything to worry about, Angela. This looks more like an exhibitionist crime. He liked the idea of being watched and since you were never in front of the camera."  
  
Bobby and Alex were sitting on a park bench enjoying their lunch. Bobby was eating pastrami on rye. Alex was sipping some soup from a cup. "Do you think she had her roommate killed to get her grades up?" "I admit it looks suspicious. She doesn't bring up this significant fact about this Garrick Miles person until we start questioning her along those lines." "But she was studying those books like she was really concerned about the killer coming back." "Or wants ideas about avoiding arrest." He took another bite of his sandwich while Alex just stared at him. He saw her looking and raised his eyebrow. "You were so gung-ho about her earlier. Did the nude model sway your attention?" He finished his bite and smiled at her. "I'm just not ruling this out. We have to check out her story first. Make sure she is the girl Miles was stalking and if she is we need to find this Miles guy." "The boyfriend of the roommate did it." "An ex-boyfriend. If you were so jealous of your ex-girlfriend's time wouldn't you be wondering if she was ever tempted to go in front of that camera? Wouldn't you send her a warning as to what you might do if she did?" "This will be hard to prove." "Whoever said life was easy?"  
  
Garrick Miles did turn up to have priors. Those consistent with a stalker. There was even a restraining order for him not to come within one hundred yards of NYU. It was filed by NYU shortly after the expulsion. A call to the campus security did confirm that Angela was the target. However they could not locate Miles. A visit to his mother's home in Queens turned up nothing. She wouldn't even let them in the door. "My boy was hurt by that slut. He told me that she even wanted him to get in front of that camera. What he ever saw in her I don't know, but I am not going to answer any of your questions. I haven't heard from him since February. He said he was going out west to school." And with that she slammed the door in their faces. "Well, that was helpful." "Yes, very." Goren looked back at the house before getting into the SUV. "Does she look like someone who would have a computer?" He laughed slightly. "And I would never tell my mother that my girlfriend let people watch her on camera or that she wanted me to do the same. I'd want to keep that private no matter how bad the breakup was." "So, Garrick is talking to Mommy." "Lying to Mommy. Angela never did get in front of that camera. All those message boards on Jancam confirmed that. No one knew she even had a roommate."  
  
When they returned to headquarters Deakins was waiting for them. "Here's a background report on Angela. She has quite few scholarships going for her. Scholarships that would be taken anyway anytime she goes below a 3.0 average." He tossed Goren the file. And then looked at the both of them significantly. "I understand she also has incompletes this semester. And she had been averaging a 2.0." "We've questioned her on that." Goren said simply. He opened the file and scanned it quickly. Deakins waited, but quickly grew impatient. "And.?" "Bobby doesn't think too much of that theory." Eames quipped. "What about you?" "I think there may be something there. But this Garrick Miles guy has something to do with it too." You're basing this on the tattoos? Some fuzzy photo and an even fuzzier memory from a tattoo artist? You haven't even tracked the guy down." Deakins walked back to his desk and sat down. He glared and Goren when he finally looked up from the file. "Pick her up for questioning. She's the best lead we've got." "Ok." Goren tucked the file in his case and left with Eames. Outside Eames snorted at Bobby. "I know you. You don't think she's involved. Why didn't you argue?" Bobby gazed at her for a moment. "Sometimes you've got to shake the tree to see what falls out of it." "What?" "If Garrick Miles is still watching her, then he might be more than a little concerned with her being questioned." Goren opened up his file again to read.  
  
Back at the NYU library Garrick Miles had moved to a different vantage point but was still close enough to see her. She had gone to lunch, but was back at her studies. The books had changed on the table and her laptop was open. She paused to stretch her arms. He had finally worked up the courage to approach her. He was coming around the bookcase when he saw the two detectives from before approach her. He barely made back around to behind the bookcase before the big detective looked up.  
  
"Back so soon?" Angela looked at the detectives before her. "And you're still here." Goren said. He did not sit down but did look around the library quickly. He picked up another book. "This time you should come with us." Eames said. Angela looked at her before she gathered her things in her bag and zipped up her laptop. Goren and Eames flanked her as they walked out. Goren made sure to grab her arm just above the elbow. He twisted his hand so that the fabric of her coat bunched and made it look as though he was holding her tighter then he was. 


End file.
